Astronauts On The Moon: Who Walked On The Moon And Their Missions?

Once Neil Armstrong said, “That’s one small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind.” Yeah! we all know Neil Armstrong, right! He was the first person to walk on the moon.

But, do you know about the other astronauts on the moon or in simple words the other persons who have walked on the moon and about their respective space missions.

In this article, we have posted about the names of all those astronauts who walked on the moon till date and their missions. You will definitely love to know about the 12 astronauts who walked on the moon in detail.

Astronauts On The Moon: Who Walked On The Moon And Their Missions?

There are only 12 people who got a chance to walk on the moon till date. They are Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John Young, Charles Duke, Eugene Cernan, and Harrison Schmitt. I would say they are those luckiest ones who got a chance to walk on a body other than the earth.

It was all possible due to the NASA’s Apollo Lunar Missions. There have been a total of 17 Apollo Lunar Missions till date. Each mission gave the astronauts the opportunity for landing on the moon and returning them safely to the Earth.

The main goals and objectives of the total of 17 Apollo Missions were –

Building up the innovation and technologies to meet other national interests in space.

Accomplishing prevalence in space for the United States.

Doing a program of logical and scientific investigation on the Moon.

Building up the human capability to work in the lunar environmental conditions.

Let’s Know About The 12 Astronauts Who Have Walked On The Moon And Their Respective Missions…

APOLLO 1…

0 Astronauts Landed On The Surface Of The Moon…

It was indeed the first tragedy of the Apollo mission. It was on Jan. 27, 1967 on the spaceship launch pad at Cape Kennedy when during the preflight testing that the Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a fire flame swept through the command module of the spacecraft.

APOLLO 2 To APOLLO 6…

0 Astronauts Landed On The Surface Of The Moon…

After Apollo 1 which was the first spacecraft to be destroyed during the preflight testing, there was no craft named Apollo 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. After Apollo 1, from APOLLO 2 To APOLLO 6 were just a type of unnamed missions in order to test the launch pad, craft engines, and command console in preparation for the future successful Apollo missions.

APOLLO 7…

0 Astronauts Landed On The Surface Of The Moon…

This was the first manned flight of the Apollo crew vehicle. The main mission overview of Apollo 7 was to successfully demonstrate the Command and Service Module with crew performance and to feature the first American live broadcast from the space.

It was launched on Oct. 11, 1968, from the Cape Canaveral launch pad.

Wally Schirra, Don Eisele, and Walter Cunningham was the crew of Apollo 7 and they had spent nearly about 11 days in space as they orbited Earth. The main mission was a testing purpose and they tested out the command module of the spacecraft. This mission checked and correctly passed the design of the whole spacecraft and its module to bring humans safely to the moon and back again.

APOLLO 8…

This spacecraft was launched on 21 December 1968. The main purpose of this spacecraft was just to enter the Lunar Orbit and return.

The Apollo 8 crew were also the first to witness and photograph the scene of the Rising Earth demonstrating how the earth actually looks like from the moon.

The main mission overview was to understand and to demonstrate the varied translunar injection, CSM lunar navigation, communications, passive thermal control. Apollo 8’s detailed test reports were analyzed to refine the system modules, procedures, and spacecraft making suitable for the future lunar missions.

APOLLO 9…

0 Astronauts Landed On The Surface Of The Moon…

It was Launched on 03 March 1969 from Kennedy Space Centre. This was the first crewed Lunar Module test with crew members Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot Russell Schweickart.

This was the first crewed spaceflight for testing an Earth-orbital engineering test with the Lunar Module (LM). Demonstration and checking of the launch vehicle and spacecraft systems, the crew, and procedures in preparation for the future successful Moon landing.

An Apollo 10 photograph of Earth taken from 100,000 miles away. Image Credit NASA

APOLLO 10…

0 Astronauts Landed On The Surface Of The Moon…

The main mission of Apollo 10 was to test all the aspects for a lunar landing in preparation for the future lunar operations.

Launched from Cape Kennedy on May 18, 1969, this was the first Apollo spacecraft which was a completely crewed Apollo spacecraft to operate around the Moon.

The missions were to gather as much of the pieces of information about the lunar gravitational effect, innovation and developing the tracking techniques, checking the Lunar modules and the radar systems, network and data transmissions signaling from The Moon to The Earth were planned and all of these missions were successfully executed.

On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 crew had successfully completed lunar landing and return to Earth.

Neil Armstrong had to manually fly the Lunar Module and he landed it successfully on the surface of the moon.

Neil Armstrong was the first person to land on the moon and then Edwin Aldrin landed as the second person landing on the surface of the moon.

They explored the lunar surface, collected rock samples, hoisted the US flag there, deployed a seismograph there and had successfully conducted an experiment to measure the distance between the Earth and the Moon using laser lights.

APOLLO 12…

Pete Conrad and Alan L. Bean were the two astronauts who walked on the moon on the Apollo 12 mission. They were on the moon for two days from November 19 to 20, 1969.

The main goals of the Apollo 12 lunar landing mission included lunar exploration tasks as well as the deployment and performing of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments in order to collect seismic, scientific and engineering data throughout a long period of time.

Apollo 13 lunar module pilot Fred Haise chats with Guenter Wendt and other members of the pad closeout crew in the White Room following a countdown demonstration at Launch Complex 39A.Image Credit: NASA

APOLLO 13…

0 Astronauts Landed On The Surface Of The Moon…

Apollo 13 was a failed mission. It was the third Apollo spacecraft with an aim to land on the moon.

It was launched on 11 April 1970 and the crew members were James A. Lovell Jr., Fred W. Haise Jr., John L. Swigert Jr. However due to a rupture of the service module oxygen tank it had an emergency landing on April 17, 1970, in the Pacific Ocean. The crew was rescued from there.

APOLLO 14…

2 Astronauts Successfully Landed On The Surface Of The Moon…

The Apollo 14 spacecraft was launched on 31 January 1971 and it had landed on the surface of the Moon on 5 February 1971. A total of six attempts were required to launch the spacecraft from the launch pad.

The main purpose of the mission was to land on the Fra Mauro region of the moon, to conduct a series of seismic experiments to study Moonquakes and the astronauts used the Modular Equipment Transporter (MET) to carry equipment and samples.

The crew members were Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell and they were the 5th and 6th astronauts to land on the moon. They had eventually conducted a series of science experiments there and collected about 94 pounds of rock and soil and brought them back to earth for scientific evaluation.

APOLLO 15…

2 Astronauts Successfully Landed On The Surface Of The Moon…

Apollo 15 spacecraft was launched from the Launch Complex launch pad 39 at Cape Canaveral on 26 July 1971.

This mission was the first Apollo mission with the spacecraft to stay longer about three days on the surface of the moon. The three-member crew were David R. Scott, James B. Irwin, and Alfred M. Worden. This crew was the first to use a moving vehicle on the surface of the moon.

The Apollo 15 landed between two mountains in an area called Hadley Rille. There Scott and Irwin deployed various science experiments and collected 77 kg of lunar rock samples for evaluation back to the earth.

The primary objective of the mission was to understand the lunar surface science and lunar orbital science.

Astronaut John Young Driving the Lunar Rover.Image Credit: NASA

APOLLO 16…

2 Astronauts Successfully Landed On The Surface Of The Moon…

Apollo 16 was launched on April 16, 1972, from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew members were John W. Young, Charles M. Duke Jr., Thomas K. Mattingly II.

The main objectives of this mission were to perform various experiments and surveys and also to collect various data regarding the surface features and collecting varied sample materials back to earth. Other objectives were to conduct surface experiments, in-flight experiments and undertake varied photographic tasks from the lunar orbit

Astronaut Eugene Cernan in Lunar Module.Image Credit: NASA

APOLLO 17…

2 Astronauts Successfully Landed On The Surface Of The Moon…

Apollo 17 spacecraft took a consisting of astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Harrison H. Schmitt, Ronald E. Evans with it. It was launched on 07 December 1972. It was the last Apollo mission which took people to the moon.

The final people to walk on the Moon were Eugene (Gene) Cernan and Harrison (Jack) Schmitt with a three-day stay on the surface of the moon.

Collection of lunar samples and deployment of various scientific instruments were the main mission objectives of Apollo 17.

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